Likely Homicide Victim Identified as Cindy Cook — Police Seek Info

LOOKING FOR THIS CAR — A likeness of Cindy Cook’s car, a 2009 MINI Cooper Clubman station wagon, cream colored, with a black top and black stripes on the hood, bearing Vermont registration GBH823, has gone missing. Police are asking for the public to call 802-229-9191 if seen.

MIDDLESEX — Major Glenn Hall, commander of the Vermont State Police Criminal Division, announced on July 13 the identity of a deceased woman found down an embankment in Middlesex. She is Cindy Cook, age 59, of Barre. Next of kin have been notified.

Cook’s body was found around 6 p.m., July 12, by a woman walking her dog on Brook Road. “I think the dog probably smelled something off the side of the road,” Hall said during a press update at the Middlesex State Police barracks. He later said it is not known how long she had been dead, but the body was “in a state of decomposition” that indicated it had been there for “at least several days.”

Hall said evidence pointing toward the cause of death was collected from the scene, but he is not prepared to give details as the investigation is underway.

An autopsy was conducted on the morning of July 13 at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Burlington. Early results suggest her death was a homicide, but the cause of death is pending at this time.

No suspects have been named.

As to whether the situation poses a danger to the public, Hall said, “We have a homicide. We have not made an arrest. … Everyone should be vigilant and report suspicious behavior.”

Police are intensively looking for her car — a 2009 Mini Cooper Clubman station wagon, cream colored, with a black top and black stripes on the hood, bearing Vermont registration GBH823. It has gone missing.

Police are also in the process of executing a search warrant in her Barre apartment.

Cook was last known to have been in phone contact with a family member on July 3. That family member started calling police when she hadn’t heard from Cook in several days, Hall said.